


Where He Belonged

by NightcoreFairy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst with a Happy Ending, Heavy Angst, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Spoilers, this is just me pouring out my feelings after having watched the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 10:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18589084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightcoreFairy/pseuds/NightcoreFairy
Summary: Captain America died with a smile on his face.Steve Rogers died with a smile on his heart.





	Where He Belonged

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, what's up my dudes, this is your boy, uh, dead inside.
> 
> (It's been two hours since I watched the movie and I'm still crying, help.)

“Steve?”

He slowly turned his head to his right, a small smile stretching on his lips.

“You shouldn’t frown like that, Buck, wrinkles isn’t a look that suits you,” he weakly responded, “you keep that on and you’re gonna look even older than me.”

Bucky let out a broken chuckle, his eyes glistening as he gazed down at him.

“Even at his state you’re still able to crack jokes, you’re— you’re _unbelievable_ , Rogers.” Bucky stuttered, fingers flexing at either side, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.

Steve smiled sadly at him from the bed he was lying on and weakly raised his hand, “Come here, punk.”

Bucky stepped up in a heartbeat, taking his extended hand in his own. Steve squeezed as much as his strength allowed him to and let out a long sigh.

He hadn’t regretted his decision. Going back and spending his life with Peggy was probably one of the best decisions he had ever made in his life.

He actually had a secret, probably one that he won’t ever get to say to anyone, as his own journey is coming to an end, but it turned out that Peggy wasn’t the only love of his life. At first, he had refused to believe it, he couldn’t love two people at the same time to this extent, yet he did. While his heart belonged to Peggy, it also belonged to someone else.

He lived a good life. Full of happiness and love.

But it was time for him to go.

“I’m gonna miss you, Steve. I…I don’t know how I’ll continue to keep on fighting without you, without my pal, without my best friend,” Bucky brokenly whispered, lowered himself on the ground and placed his forehead against their joined hands, “ _please_ don’t go.”

“Hey, Buck, no— _hey_ , look at me, eyes up here, soldier, that’s it,” Steve took deep breaths for a little while, struggling to keep himself over the surface, he couldn’t go just yet, he needed a little bit more time, just for this.

“I know that deep down, you don’t like this, the choice that I made, and it’s okay. It’s okay, Buck. You can be selfish about this, you can be angry, sad— I understand. Believe me I…I don’t like the fact that I’m leaving you, either, but I don’t regret my choice. I finally got to live the life I wanted to and I don’t expect you to come to terms with it immediately. You’re strong though, stronger than I ever was and I know that you’ll do just fine. Have a little bit more faith in yourself, will you?”

His eyes glistened, a lone tear rolling down his cheek.

“And don’t forget that you aren’t alone in this. You have so many friends— _family_ to back you up and support you. You’ll never be alone, because I will always be with you, right here.”

Steve withdrew his hand from Bucky’s grasp and placed it over Bucky’s chest, near his heart.

“Never forget that…Buck.”

Bucky furiously shook his head, tears cascading down his cheeks, “I-I won’t, I promise…I p-promise…”

He weakly nodded and let his hand slid down, feeling his strength slowly leave him.

“That’s…my boy…”

He finally allowed his eyes to slowly drop down, closing at last. He took a few, small breaths, coming out like sighs.

“Steve? Steve, can you hear me? Steve, Steve, _please_ don’t—“

Bucky’s frantic voice gradually became distant, unfamiliar and as Steve took his last breath, he finally fell to a peaceful sleep. A sleep with no terror, filled with cold, but a sleep with serenity.

Captain America died with a smile on his face.

Steve Rogers died with a smile on his heart.

* * *

Steve woke up in an oddly familiar place. He was currently standing in the middle of the main floor on the previous Avengers tower.

He hesitantly brought his hands up, touching his face, yet he felt no wrinkle or sagging skin. It was like he was born anew again.

He knew that he had died, he could feel it, but this select of setting was kind of strange. Didn’t people say that in the afterlife they go back to the place or person they truly longed for?

Then, it was like a lightning went through his very core, mind zeroing into realization.

He whipped around and dashed to the stairs, sprinting to the top floor like a madman, feeling a familiar _pull_ towards it. Soon, he reached the top floor, burst through the door and froze in place, eyes widening.

“You know, I honestly thought that after my little show of saving-the-whole-universe-and-dying-in-a-dramatic-way that you would at least live on to tell people the great tale of ‘Tony Stark and his absolute awesomeness’, but I guess I expected too much, didn’t I?”

Steve thickly swallowed, feeling his throat close up.

_God, was that even possible in the afterlife?_

“Tony, I—“ he choked out a sob, tears glistening in his eyes.

“Aw, no, none of that, come here, you big dork,” Tony finally turned around to face him and extended his arm towards him.

He immediately closed the gap between them and gripped Tony’s extended hand tightly into his own, burying his face into the crook of Tony’s neck.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’re okay now, we’re okay. We did it, Cap, we can finally rest now and leave the saving to the youngsters.”

He weakly chuckled and nodded against Tony’s neck.

They would be fine, now.

Steve finally returned to where he belonged.

**Author's Note:**

> Wake me up, (wake me up inside)  
> I can't wake up, (wake me up inside)  
> saVE ME


End file.
